Yesterday ended somewhat disastrously. And it had started off so well. We had a nice breakfast at church with those who spent the night camping out; I got the projector and everything put back in order quickly; The guy came to fix the ceiling from the leaky roof; Then in the afternoon we went to Ken's birthday party. This is always an interesting time for us, because our neighbor invites us to his parties, and we are usually the only white people there. We were again. But we never feel out of place. We sat around under the shade of trees and talked and listened and had a good time while they cooked ribs, steaks, and chicken (and lots of it). Unfortunately we only got a small sampling of food before we had to leave, but Ken promised to fix us a plate and bring it over. Then it was all down hill from there.
We had bought tickets to the Trinity Music Fest several weeks ago. It was an all-day Christian extravaganza at Parkview Field in Fort Wayne. The only reason I wanted to go was to see the David Crowder Band. I had printed off the schedule and had it sitting by the computer for weeks. I wasn't all that interested in seeing any of the speakers or other bands, but I was hugely anticipating seeing DCB. I don't know why, but after seeing him the first time, and recently buying some of his music for the first time... I am a convert. So I planned the day around going to see them play, and if we felt like it, maybe staying to hear Jeremy Camp for a little while. I was pumped.
I thought if we left around 5 pm we should be there in plenty of time for what I thought was the 5:45 start. So we headed into town and went down by our usual parking area. Well, for one thing, I forgot that they also have free live music at the library on Saturday nights; and there were quite a few people around downtown; and where we normally park was now paid parking ($4); and all the meters had "no parking" bags on them; and large areas were roped off (this was the last night of the Three Rivers Festival and it concludes with huge fireworks downtown)... so we ended up parking east of Clinton St. on Wayne. We had to walk quite a ways, but at least we didn't have to pay. So then we finally approached the field and... we realized they weren't letting people into the stadium on the Jefferson St. side, and we had to walk all the way around the stupid place to get in through the main gate. We also noticed that all the restaurants along Jefferson had lines of people coming out the door. We wondered what was up with that. We quickly found out. When we got inside the stadium, they only had ONE concession stand open (there are normally 4 for a baseball game); and almost everything was packed in under the main concourse area - it was a total zoo!!! I was actually surprised at the large number of people, but they didn't have things laid out very well. And, like that wasn't bad enough, it started to sprinkle rain just as we got to the stadium.
Well, we finally decided we needed to eat, because we hadn't eaten since breakfast at 8 am. So we stood in line forever and each got an order of chicken strips and a medium drink ($21.50) and found a seat to eat and wait for DCB. It only sprinkled intermittently, and I did have an umbrella in my pocket, and the chicken wasn't too bad even. But we had to listen to this youth choir go on and on and on and on. I suppose they were good, but it's not really my thing. Then the winning band from the battle of the bands got to play a song, and the kid kept going on and on and on and on - like we wanted to hear him talk... Then, I started to get this really sick feeling in my stomach. There were several mentions of Jeremy Camp... and it kinda started to creep into my head that maybe DCB didn't start at 5:45, but THREE FORTY FIVE!!! Dang! I cannot believe how much of a moron I am! I had paid $70, plus $21.50 for food, just to see ONE band, and I got us there at the WRONG STINKING TIME!!!
I was so bummed. I was speechless. I wanted to cry right there in my third-base-line seat. Sitting in the drizzle in a crowd full of strangers and I was alone in my misery at being such a stupid idiot (well, Jane was with me...).
I suppose Jeremy Camp was alright, but I just couldn't get into it. And I was NOT in the mood to be told when to stand and when to clap and that I needed to take hold of my neighbors hand and all raise our hands in the air... I had just wasted a ton of money (for us) and who does he think he is telling ME what to do. After paying that much we should be telling HIM what to do. Anyway, I endured JC, and then some speaker guy came on before a huge group of people dressed in red, white, and blue was set to come on the stage. We left. I can't even remember who the headliner was at night, and I could have cared less about staying for the fireworks.
We left and walked toward the library. We saw some idiot young guy walking his girlfriend on a leash. I wonder if he knows how much of an ass he looked like. Sunny Taylor was just getting done with her set at the library. We walked on through, headed towards our car, drove through the throngs lining the streets for the fireworks, and started towards home. Then we almost got into an accident. I had a yellow light and was starting through the intersection, and apparently a car and motorcycle coming crossways were anticipating getting the green. They drove right out in front of us and I had to slam on the breaks to keep from slamming the motorcycle.
We finally got out of there and stopped at the grocery store to get some dog food - since we had had Lady since Friday night and she only had enough food for one meal. We got home, got her fed, and I was ready for bed. I am glad that day is over. I hope this one is better. Dammit all anyway.
And, just in case you're thinking about leaving a stupid comment - please spare me. I know it's not the end of the world, but I was really excited to see DCB, and I am really bummed at being so stupid.
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